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Dems blast Fox host for 'crack pipe' comments about Rep. Waters

February 17, 2012 | 9:57
am

The Fox News commentator who said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) should "step away from the crack pipe" referring to remarks she made about House Republican leaders said his comments were a joke. But the Los Angeles County Democratic Party didn't find it very funny.

Rep. Waters, a Democrat representing parts of Los Angeles, was a topic of conversation on Thursday's edition of the Fox News morning newscast "Fox and Friends," because of a speech in which she called House Republic leadership "demons."

That riled up commentator Eric Bolling. "Congresswoman, you saw what happened to Whitney Houston," he said. "Step away from the crack pipe, step away from the Xanax, step away from the Lorazepam, because it's going to get you in trouble."

The show's hosts were caught by surprise and gasped. After the show returned from a commercial break, Bolling said it was a joke. "I just want to say I was kidding about the crack pipe," he said. "Just kidding."

Eric C. Bauman, chairman of the L.A. County Democratic Party, called for the network to remove Bolling, condemning his remarks as, at best, "insensitive and inappropriate" and a "horribly offensive characterization of a longtime member of Congress."

"At worst," he said in a statement, "Bolling's comment oozes racism, which serves to discredit a strong African American woman by perpetrating racial stereotypes. Regardless of whether this remark was deliberate or offhand -- it was irresponsible, despicable and reprehensible."